Mississippi

NCAA Asks State Supreme Court to End Chambliss’ Ole Miss Career

Published

1 month ago

March 6, 2026

NCAA Asks State Supreme Court to End Chambliss’ Ole Miss Career

Ole Miss shouldn’t have starting quarterback Trinidad Chambliss on its roster this fall, the NCAA asserts in an appeal filed with the Supreme Court of Mississippi on Thursday.

In a petition authored by J. Douglas Minor, Jr. and other attorneys from Holland & Knight, the NCAA warns that unless the state Supreme Court intervenes, there could be a “flood of litigation” involving college athletes whose schools are denied medical waivers to let them keep playing. The NCAA also says the appeal needs to be adjudicated prior to April 23 so that Chambliss—if the NCAA can enforce its eligibility rules to render him ineligible—would “have the opportunity to participate in the upcoming NFL draft.”

The appeal faces hurdles. For starters, it is an interlocutory appeal, meaning an appeal before a final judgment in a case and one where the appellate court can decline. Interlocutory appeals are disfavored because appellate courts prefer to review cases only after a final judgment on the merits—i.e., after a trial verdict—because the record is complete by that point. An interlocutory appeal concerns only a preliminary or incomplete matter. Interlocutory appeals are ordinarily denied unless the petitioner can persuasively explain that an injustice would otherwise occur.

Last month Judge Robert Whitwell of the Lafayette County (Miss.) Chancery Court granted Chambliss—who will enter his sixth year of college this fall—a preliminary injunction to bar the NCAA from rendering Chambliss ineligible in the coming season. The NCAA limits eligibility to four seasons of intercollegiate competition, including junior college and Division II competition, within a five-year period. Chambliss exhausted his NCAA eligibility in 2025–26.

The center of the dispute concerns the 2022 season, when Chambliss, now 23, was on the roster of D-II Ferris State but didn’t accumulate passing or rushing statistics.

During that season, Chambliss suffered from post-COVID complications including chronic tonsillitis and adenoiditis. The NCAA maintains that a waiver application filed by Ole Miss on Chambliss’ behalf failed to include sufficient medical documentation establishing that Chambliss couldn’t play in 2022. The association insists it consistently applies a standard for waivers that requires contemporaneous medical records from health care professionals unambiguously establishing an athlete can’t play due to health reasons.

The NCAA says Ole Miss came up short on that front.

As the NCAA tells it, although the Ole Miss application “was voluminous,” it offered only limited contemporaneous medical documents. The NCAA says that the treatment notes of one doctor recommended that Chambliss not have surgery and that medication, including Flonase, “was prescribed to enable [Chambliss] to participate in football.” That narrative suggests that Chambliss was healthy enough to play.

To be clear, Chambliss’ legal team contests this account and argues the medical documentation was sufficient to show he was unable to play in 2022. The appeal, as the NCAA acknowledges, also doesn’t call for a review of the findings of fact, which Whitwell found persuasive enough to grant the injunction.

In its petition to the state Supreme Court, the NCAA argues that Chambliss—who is represented by attorneys Tom Mars, William Liston III and W. Lawrence Deas—tried to “circumvent” case precedent in Mississippi. That precedent, the NCAA maintains, holds that judicial review of athletic association decisions is highly deferential to the association. Chambliss allegedly “circumvented” this precedent by insisting he is a third-party beneficiary of the contractual relationship between the NCAA and Ole Miss as a member institution.

A third-party beneficiary enjoys enforceable legal interest in the contract being performed, and Chambliss asserts the NCAA harmed him by how it reviewed the “total circumstances” of Ole Miss’ application. He used that theory to claim the NCAA breached the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, which collectively require parties to treat other contracting parties’ situations in a fair and honest way.

The NCAA maintains that the applicable standard of review under Mississippi law for review of an athletic association’s eligibility decision is arbitrary and capricious. This standard, which was established in the state Supreme Court case Mississippi High School Activities Association v. Hattiesburg High School (2015), is extremely favorable to the association. Per this precedent, an athletic association’s eligibility decision can be upheld even if it is unreasonable and arguably wrong so long as it is not arbitrary and capricious. As the NCAA tells it, Whitwell—a University of Mississippi School of Law graduate and an elected official—failed to apply the standard as it was intended.

Mindful that interlocutory appeals are disfavored since the record is incomplete, the NCAA insists that the Supreme Court ought to review the matter because of the case’s broader implications and the timing of the situation.

The NCAA explains that, as a membership organization, it has a contractual duty to “ensure a level playing field among” all competing schools. The NCAA suggests it must seek appeals to block courts from “intervening in NCAA eligibility decisions to provide special treatment to favored athletes.” If trial judges meddle with the NCAA’s administration of eligibility rules, the NCAA’s petition argues, that meddling poses an “existential threat to the NCAA’s administration of collegiate sports.”

To corroborate that point, the NCAA warns that unless Chambliss is deemed ineligible, there will be a “flood of litigation” involving athletes whose schools are denied medical waivers. The NCAA points out that UVA quarterback Chandler Morris recently sued the NCAA in Virginia in hopes of obtaining a seventh year of eligibility, and the basis of his case is the denial of a medical waiver.

The NCAA also advises the state Supreme Court that the risk of “spillover effect” has been borne out through the aftermath of former Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia’s eligibility litigation against the NCAA to play a sixth season of college football.

“Since Pavia,” the NCAA writes, “over 60 lawsuits by over 100 student-athletes have raised similar challenges.” This litigation, the NCAA maintains, has caused “uncertainty” as to NCAA eligibility.

The NCAA knows that if Whitwell’s injunction isn’t lifted, the case is effectively over: The injunction will let Chambliss play for Ole Miss in 2026 and then he’ll move on to the NFL or other pursuits. Whether Chambliss would prevail in a trial, which might not be scheduled until 2027 or beyond, could be rendered irrelevant if Chambliss decides to drop the case after the 2026 season.

Chambliss v. NCAA is a reminder of the unique features of the post-House settlement world. It now pays to stay in school, given that athletes can receive full athletic scholarships, NIL deals and direct payments from their schools through revenue shares. According to ESPN, Chambliss could earn about $6 million at Ole Miss if he plays there this fall.

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An 1850s Parsonage in Natchez, Mississippi, Is Selling for the First Time in Over a Century

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5 hours ago

April 5, 2026

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An 1850s Parsonage in Natchez, Mississippi, Is Selling for the First Time in Over a Century

A 174-year-old brick parsonage house on a bluff above the Mississippi River is now for sale in Natchez, Mississippi, asking $1.985 million.

The home, completed in 1852, was built by architect James Hardie as a residence for Methodist ministers, according to historical records. The land was donated by Peter Little, a wealthy cotton broker and slave owner who built the city’s historic Rosalie mansion.

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The house was initially built as a one-story residence with an “English” basement and a carriage house; a two-story annex was added later, according to the listing with Douglas Adams of Crescent Sotheby’s International Realty, informed by the Historic Natchez Foundation.

“The location is what is superb because it is one of the highest points in Natchez overlooking the Mississippi River,” said Adams, who posted the listing Thursday.

In 1893, the Parsonage changed hands for the last time when it was purchased by James and Agnes Metcalfe, and has been in the Metcalfe family ever since.

Known as the Parsonage, the residence is considered a classic example of Greek Revival architecture from the pre-Civil War South, with a wide portico, raised porch and sash windows. It is located on South Broadway Street, in a commanding position that overlooks Bluff Park, the Mississippi and downtown Natchez. It spans 6,500 square feet with five bedrooms, two formal parlors flanking a central hall and richly detailed interiors that include original exposed-brick walls, fireplaces and stained-glass windows.

In addition to a front porch, the property includes several outdoor terraces and balconies, including a second-floor wraparound deck and a balustraded rooftop—which has the best vantage point from which to see the wide views.

The home was occupied for many years by the late Albert and Gay Metcalfe, who married at the Parsonage in 1959, and would host events for friends. “It became something of a social hub,” Adams said. “They’d host families to celebrate someone’s life; there may have been some weddings that occurred there.”

Gay Metcalfe died in 2023 and the heirs are her three children, Adams said. The family couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Hardie, the architect, was a Scottish immigrant who built several other notable buildings in Natchez, including most prominently St. Mary Basilica, a Gothic Revival structure on the National Register of Historic Places, and the Homewood plantation, a Greek Revival mansion.

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According to local lore, the Parsonage was commissioned by Little because his wife, Eliza’s religious devotion led her to welcome every passing minister into their home, according to “Natchez,” a 1940s history of the city. Displeased with the “long siege of such guests,” Little decided to build a separate home for his wife’s visitors.

Little’s own mansion at Rosalie still stands today near the site of the 1729 massacre of the Natchez Native Americans, from whom the city takes its name.

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Mississippi Children’s Museum hosts annual Easter event

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17 hours ago

April 5, 2026

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Measuring Mississippi State baseball’s concern level after sweep by Georgia at home

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1 day ago

April 4, 2026

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Measuring Mississippi State baseball’s concern level after sweep by Georgia at home

STARKVILLE — Mississippi State baseball swept its previous two SEC opponents but fell on the other end against Georgia.

No. 4 MSU (25-7, 7-5 SEC) was swept by No. 5 Georgia (27-6, 10-2) at Dudy Noble Field. It was the first time MSU was swept under first-year coach Brian O’Connor.

Mississippi State lost 10-9 on April 2, 3-1 on April 3 and 8-5 in 10 innings on April 4.

The three straight losses created the longest losing streak of the season. Georgia’s last sweep of MSU at Dudy Noble Field was in 2004.

“I’m not concerned,” O’Connor said. “Listen, you see it all over the place in this league. People get swept and things like that. When I talk to the team, I talk about taking each game like its own individual game.

“… There were certainty plenty of bright spots, but just not enough. I believe we got away from what got us to this point for whatever reason. We have to own that; we have to stand up as men and acknowledge what happened and make the adjustments to get back on the right track and play winning Mississippi State baseball.”

Star third baseman Ace Reese launched a shot that looked like it was going to win Game 3 in the ninth inning, but it was caught at the warning track.

“It’s not concerning at all,” Reese said. “We’re a great ball club. I know what we can do. It was just unfortunate. We didn’t play good enough. We didn’t hit in situations well enough, and we didn’t pitch at the right time well enough.”

What Brian O’Connor wants more of from Mississippi State baseball

O’Connor said he agreed with a reporter’s observation that there was negative body language from Mississippi State players throughout the series.

“Words matter, and I met with the team before the stretch this morning and talked to them specifically about that and what a winner’s mentality looks like,” O’Connor said. “We just have to be better from that standpoint. We have to grow in that area. We showed some immaturity this weekend, and Georgia exposed that.”

Mississippi State fell behind 10-2 in Game 1 in the fifth inning after a poor start from Charlie Foster and relief appearance by Jack Gleason. MSU scored seven unanswered runs after that but failed to drive in the tying run in the ninth inning.

MSU got another outstanding pitching start from Tomas Valincius in Game 2, but never scored after the first inning. Game 3 was tied at 5-5 through six innings until Michael O’Shaughnessy hit a three-run home run in the 10th inning.

Mississippi State left 32 batters on base throughout the series and batted 1-for-22 in the final two games with runners in scoring position.

Georgia also scored numerous runs throughout the series because of passed balls and wild pitches.

“Just overall a tough weekend,” O’Connor said. “That can happen in this league. It’s no excuse. We don’t accept it. We just have to learn from it and play be a little bit more tough-minded and approach the game the right way.”

Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for The Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@usatodayco.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.

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